The first sixty minutes alter a trauma injury event has been referred to as the "golden hour." This hour immediately subsequent to the injury is critical in terms of getting the victim to an emergency room, diagnosing injuries and beginning treatment and management. Many factors work against the efficient use of this first hour. Often it takes significant time to transport the victim to the hospital. Once at the hospital, diagnosis must begin and often involves numerous tests. This process is frequently slowed by the condition of the victim. For example, if the victim is unconscious, then input from the patient regarding pain and the like cannot be obtained.
During the diagnosis stage, some injuries are obvious due to the physical manifestations involved in the symptoms. These physical manifestations include swelling, bruising, bleeding and perhaps misalignment of bones or body parts. However, some injuries are best classified as internal, typically in the chest area or in the head. These injuries may be simultaneously invisible and considerably more severe than any visible injury. These can be extremely dangerous injuries. With time a critical element, these types of injuries can easily be missed or overlooked during the initial examination and treatment.
In practice, the danger of missed or overlooked diagnosis is reduced by the experience of the diagnosing physician When a victim arrives having suffered a particular type of traumatic accident, an experienced physician attempts to narrow the scope of possible injuries based upon the anecdotal experiences of previously treated victims. The value of this approach is significant. However, the sum of a physician's experience is always modest when compared to the total number of serious accidents which occur and are treated by all physicians year after year. Another problem with this method arises when some indicative factors of a given trauma event are ignored at the expense of some less meaningful factors.
For example, in the area of automobile accidents, a physician in an emergency room certainly has seen a great deal of victims injured in automobile accidents. Additionally, the physician may be able to ascertain certain details about the accident, compare it to previous experiences, and improve the chances that a correct diagnosis can occur quickly. However, the physician, no matter how experienced, cannot master the extremely large number of permutations which can occur when several factors are involved. For example, it would be hard for a physician to practically know the difference between an accident in which the right rear quarter panel was hit at 25 miles per hour from an accident in which the car was hit in the same position but at 40 miles per hour. The problem is further compounded when factors such as vehicle type, victim information, seating position and restraint use are factored in.
The information needed to distinguish the subtle differences of accident factors is either available or could be compiled. However, in the golden hour of medical treatment, there is not enough time to compile or digest the necessary information. The problem is compounded when a traumatic event occurs in which there is concurrently a large number of trauma victims.
There is therefore a need for a system and method for diagnosing trauma injuries in a consistent, efficient and methodical manner.